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<title>when screams (are the only escape) by Phoenix_Allura (Artemis_Autumn_Marie)</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23436220">when screams (are the only escape)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Artemis_Autumn_Marie/pseuds/Phoenix_Allura'>Phoenix_Allura (Artemis_Autumn_Marie)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Nix's Whumptober 2019 [18]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types, The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Happy Ending, Nightmares, Sad Minho, Sharing a Bed, Thomas Whump, Whumptober 2019, sad Thomas</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 11:48:22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>896</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23436220</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Artemis_Autumn_Marie/pseuds/Phoenix_Allura</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Whumptober Day 18: Muffled Scream<br/>Minho is used to nightmares. Moreso than he'd like. <br/>Everyone here is.<br/>Except for Thomas, it seems.<br/>(maybe especially Thomas)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Gally &amp; Minho (Maze Runner), Minho/Thomas (Maze Runner), Newt &amp; Thomas (Maze Runner)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Nix's Whumptober 2019 [18]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1507226</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>50</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>when screams (are the only escape)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Thomas isn’t surprised to be woken up by screams again; even in Paradise, they all have their nightmares. It’s not Minho, though--too far for that. Another cabin. He can’t place the voice.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He turns over, face pressing into his pillow, and falls back asleep.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Minho wakes up gasping; not uncommon, but this is the worst dream he’s had since arriving. Newt, jumping, Gally’s blade hitting its mark, and himself, pinned under a Griever, screaming but somehow still alive.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He purposefully doesn’t think about the details, which had been so vivid just moments earlier, as they slip his mind.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Minho stands; he’s up, might as well get a drink.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Of Gally’s stuff, if he can find it. He barely glances at Thomas in the other bed; shank is lucky. If he has nightmares, he keeps them quiet.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Gally’s up, too, and offers him a glass. Nothing needs to be said as they sit, watching dying embers.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sometimes Minho feels like that.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Like between the comfortable but disquieting life of the Glade, the escape, and running Paradise, he’s burned out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Not even nineteen (probably) and he’s already tired of living.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Not that he’s ever had a life, though.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>No, he was just an experiment.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Stop thinking, shank,” Gally says. “We don’t need to lose you too.” His voice is serious when he adds, a moment or two later, “Talk to Maria. I have been, and she’s good at what she does. Or Abbi. It’ll help.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Minho nods, still staring at the fire.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>In the morning, someone will relight it for breakfast, maybe Frypan but more likely Jorge or Brenda.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>If he’s like the dying embers now, then he can be rekindled.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Minho stands and stretches, surprising himself when he yawns.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Go back to bed, Min. Paradise’ll still be here in the morning.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Night, Gally.” The walk back to the cabin is short, but with every step, gravity seems to increase on him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He’s more tired than he thought.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He takes off his shoes, crosses the room. No need to wake Thomas. Shank stayed up too late and woke up earlier than any of them, though what he did in the morning escaped them all.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Minho’s almost asleep when he hears it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>At first, he thinks the sound is from another cabin, it’s so soft. But then it repeats, and a few moments later a muffled sob follows it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Shuck.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Thomas?” He asks, quietly. “Tommy?” That just makes the sobs worse.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sorry, Minho, didn’t mean to wake you.” The words are watery, weak.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I just came back in, Thomas.” Minho rises from his bed for the second time that night. “Gally’s got the good stuff out, if you wanna go have some.” Thomas shakes his head.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Never liked that stuff.” He almost chuckles.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, then, we can talk.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What was your nightmare about?” Thomas had hit right it on the nose.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“A lot of things. Newt dying, you dying, Grievers. I don’t remember the details.” Now that he’s standing over Thomas, Minho can see that his face is squished into his pillow. “Yours?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“...Newt. Newt’s death.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How often do you get this nightmare?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Once a week. Everything else is varied.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How often do you wake up screaming?” Minho likes to think he would have noticed, he really does, but he’s a sound sleeper.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Almost every night,” Thomas whispers. “I don’t sleep much.” Minho makes a decision. Grabbing Thomas’s bed, he tugs into the center of the room. Thomas looks up him, and Minho can just make up the tears on his cheeks and the red rimming his eyes. Minho shoves his own bed into place, then climbs in.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We can combine our sheets tomorrow and make them fit. I’m ordering a day off for both of us.” Thomas rolls over.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You need to sleep. I need to sleep. Neither of us is sleeping well on our own.” Then Minho remembers and gentles his voice. “If it’s too soon, Thomas, we can go back to normal tomorrow. But for tonight, we both need the comfort.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Too soon for what?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know you and Newt were dating, Thomas, you don’t have to pretend.” Because Minho has watched Thomas fall apart over Newt more than anyone else.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I wasn’t dating Newt, Minho. I… I killed him.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What?” Minho sits up, and Thomas copies him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He left me a note, asked me to if he became a Crank. He’d escaped with the others, stopped the truck, and begged me to kill him.” Minho watches Thomas deflate with every word.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So I did. I pulled the trigger and watched him die.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We’re taking you to Maria in the morning.” Minho decides. “Thomas, you did what he asked. It was hard, but you did it. He shouldn’t even have asked you. Now come here.” Minho lays back down, tugs Thomas in by his wrist.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Let’s at least try and get some sleep, okay? And we can deal with the world in the morning.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Thomas is surprised, when he wakes himself up screaming. It’s been a few years since that happened.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Since everything happened.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His husband, as he has every night for going on four years, reaches over and tugs him in.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Go back to sleep. We’ll deal with the world in the morning.” Minho’s only a quarter of the way awake, not even, but Thomas smiles at him anyway.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The world can wait.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello!<br/>It's been a while, but my muse seems to have come back with a raging passion so hopefully I can write finish these before the month is over. Sorry it's so short, though. Sometimes endings just kinda happen upon me.<br/>Thanks for reading! Let me know what you thought! <br/>Kudos and comments are always appricated.<br/>As always,<br/>Nix</p></blockquote></div></div>
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